


selfish truths

by ShirosRedKnight (SweetFanfics)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (sort of secret relationship implied), M/M, Missing Scene, Post Blade of the Marmora, Season 2 spoilers, keith worries, literally sleeping together, shiro reassures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 21:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9402860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/ShirosRedKnight
Summary: He moves into action, tossing his blanket off and making a beeline for Shiro’s room. Shiro’s probably awake but if he’s not then. Well. He’ll just have to deal. Keith can’t take this any longer.You’re only thinking of yourself, as usual!Shiro’s voice echoes inside Keith’s head a split second after he’s knocked on the door. It turns his veins to ice, brain still struggling to comprehend the fact that that hadn’t been Shiro. It had just been some fancy tech that took advantage of what he wanted. And what he fears.He turns his head, hoping that Shiro’s asleep and has missed the soft inquisitive chirps telling Shiro that someone’s at the door. But going with the theme of the day, Keith doesn’t get what he want.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have never felt more ALIVE than I did after watching Season 2. All the delicious and lovely moments between Shiro and Keith. (Not to mention Kallura and Heith and Hance just hachacha this season was made for me). But like ep 8 y'all. That s straight up killed me as a Keith fangirl. 
> 
> But I also wanted to like. Know what kind of reaction Shiro would have to this revelation. We've all wondered how he'd take it. And I can't even begin to express my GLEE that he's taken it as a non-issue. I just had to touch upon and that do a bit of a post ep-8 fic.

They don't get a chance to talk until later. Until the day is over and everyone turned in. Everyone except him.

 

Keith answers everyone’s questions to the best of his abilities, which is to say he can’t answer most of them. But he tells them what he knows. He’s got Galra blood in his veins, he went through the trials, and he’s part of the Blade of Marmora now.

 

Lances grumbles and complains why Keith gets to have an extra weapon even while he keeps his distance. Pidge looks at him like he’s her latest lab experience, asking him to make his blade change shapes before Coran tuts her. (He catches hes following Kolivan, dropping 10 questions per minute about the luxite properties). Hunk stares him, torn between curiosity and fear. Allura _glares_ at him. And Shiro...

 

Shiro doesn’t treat him any differently.

 

And as much as Allura’s clear and present hatred of him weighs on his mind, it’s Shiro’s non-nonchalance that keeps him from sleep. A part of him is glad of it. At least he won’t be having any nightmares this way. But he needs his sleep. Keith’s only human after all.

 

 _Half-human_ , Keith corrects himself, frowning up at the dark ceiling. _Fuck it_.

 

He moves into action, tossing his blanket off and making a beeline for Shiro’s room. Shiro’s _probably_ awake but if he’s not then. Well. He’ll just have to deal. Keith can’t take this any longer.

 

_You’re only thinking of yourself, as usual!_

 

Shiro’s voice echoes inside Keith’s head a split second after he’s knocked on the door. It turns his veins to ice, brain still struggling to comprehend the fact that _that_ hadn’t been Shiro. It had just been some fancy tech that took advantage of what he wanted. And what he fears.

 

He turns his head, hoping that Shiro’s asleep and has missed the soft inquisitive chirps telling Shiro that someone’s at the door. But going with the theme of the day, Keith doesn’t get what he want.

 

“Keith?” Shiro’s sleepy voice has him flinching, shoulders up his ears and his face towards the hallway. Away from Shiro. “What’re you doing up this late? Couldn’t sleep?”

 

He nods jerkily, wondering what would be an intelligent and tactful way to start this conversation. If there even _is_ a way to do it.

 

 _Shiro’d know_.

 

The glum thought makes his shoulders droop. He never should have come here. “It’s nothing. I just. You should go back to bed. I’m sorry.”

 

Keith takes a step forward, willing his cold feet to move. But a warm hand on his shoulder stops him in his tracks. Turns him around to guide him inside Shiro’s room with a firm, “Come on. I can tell you’ve got something in your mind.”

 

“How?” Keith can’t help but ask, letting himself be pushed down onto the bed.

 

As he sits down next to him, Shiro grins. “That look on your face. I’ve seen that so many times. It’s like you want to ask something but aren’t sure if it’s okay too or not.”

 

And now Keith feels embarrassed. Is he that much of an open book? He stares at the less than half inch between them. It’s the same gap Shiro’d give him before today’s revelations. Keith finds his eyes travelling up, taking in the ease with which Shiro is sharing space with him.

 

There are literally _no_ signs that Shiro is worried, nervous, or concerned.

 

Keith presses his lips together, looking away from the patient gaze Shiro’s directing his way. He stares instead at his toes, curling them around each other. Keith wishes he had his knife on him.

 

Shiro taps their shoulders again to catch his attention. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you this before, what with bringing Kolivan over and the others grilling you about what happened, but. How you doing? Sure you don’t want to get a couple of _vargas_ in a healing pod?”

 

Keith winces as he remembers being used as a punching bag by the Blade of Marmora. Presses his palm against his left shoulder, muttering, “Already did. Still feel like a piece of tenderized meat.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Shiro’s expression shifting into gentle concern. “You sure you don’t want to spend the night in a cryopod?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith can’t explain to Shiro why these wounds need to heal naturally. He can’t fully explain it himself. “I’ve gotten beaten up worse during some of our trainings.” That’s a lie. Keith hopes Shiro won’t call him out on it.

 

Shiro frowns and says, “No you weren’t. I’d know if that happened.”

 

Agitated and annoyed, Keith glares at Shiro and asks, “Is this _really_ what you want to talk about?”

 

“What else could we be talking about?”

 

Keith slaps a hand against his chest, hard enough that it stings. “Maybe the part where I ignored the mission and kept pushing my own agenda? Where I forced you to go along with what I wanted? I was so selfish that I almost ruined everything.”

 

“Hot headed” is a quality many people associate with him. Many more call him quick to anger. They’re right on both accounts. But the thing is. His anger is short lived. Like a spark or a poorly made fire that collapses in on itself because the kindling wasn’t properly supposed. Keith’s, which had risen in anger, quickly falls into an ashamed mumble.

He stares at his wrists, lips tightly pressed together as Shiro’s voice still rings in his head.

 

 _Selfish, foolish, short-sighted_..., Keith scolds himself.

 

Gears whirr and click as Shiro raises his hand, lightly cupping Keith’s head and forcing it down onto Shiro’s shoulder. “I’d have done the same thing if I was in your place.”

 

The only reason he doesn’t stare up at Shiro is because his hand continues to hold Keith in his place. “You would?”

 

He doesn’t mean or his voice to come out so small. But Shiro doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he lowers his hand, curling it around Keith’s waist. “Didn’t I with Ulaz? You think that was selfish?”

 

Keith shakes his head. “He was the first real lead you had to find out what’d happened to you.”

 

“See?”

 

He does but... there’s also the other matter. The _real_ reason why he’s here. Keith exhales slowly before asking, “What about the other part.”

 

“What other part?”

 

“The Galra part _._ ”

 

“Oh. That.” He feels Shiro shrug under his cheek. “So you’re part Galra. You’re still all Keith.” There’s a stinging sensation in the corner of Keith’s eyes when he feels Shiro press his mouth into his hair. “Brash, headstrong, loyal, kind. Has the potential to be a great leader one day. And is the best pilot I know.

 

Both arms go around the other man’s waist and squeeze. Keith turns his face into the soft cotton of Shiro’s shirt and mumbles mumbles, “Thanks Shiro.”

 

He’s pulled into a tight side hug in returns, a harder kiss pressed into his hair. “You know who you are better than anyone else. And where you come from? Your past? That doesn’t ever have to define who you are _now_.”

 

Keith gives Shiro one last squeeze before pulling away, blinking away his tears while Shiro yawns wide enough to show off his molars. Guiltily, Keith begins to pull away, “I should go. You need to sleep.”

 

“ _We_ need sleep.” Shiro corrects him, pulling him down onto the bed. “For all I know you’re going to go on one of your midnight walks again and wind up wandering around till 3 in the morning.”

 

“That was one time. And I was nervous as hell that night.”

 

He can’t help but smile faintly at the memory. One of the instructors had asked him to lead a SIM demonstration the next day and Keith had been too anxious-excited to sleep. Rather than sleeping, he’d spent half the night pacing on the rooftop, going through the procedures over and over again. Somehow he’d managed to get through the demonstration flawlessly but there’d been no avoiding the header into his lunch tray afterwards.

 

Something Matt had _gleefully_ told Shiro upon their next meeting.

 

Shiro moves them until Keith’s lying in his favorite position: on his side against Shiro’s body, head on Shiro’s chest. He wraps a lazy arm around Keith’s shoulder and asks, “Not nervous anymore?”

 

“No.”

 

There’s a pause before Shiro asks again, voice lower and more concerned. “Is that what’d been bothering you this whole time?”

 

“Yeah,” Keith answers, fingers tracing small circles into Shiro’s shirt. “Ever since I saw the symbol on Ulaz’s knife I just. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What it could mean. I had so many nightmares where I was...”

 

He stops. Unable to carry on, Keith curls his fingers into a fist. Shiro’s arm tightens around his shoulders. “You don’t have to tell me. I get it. I can imagine.”

 

“Do you think Allura’s ever going to stop hating me?”

 

“She will.” There’s nothing but casual confidence in Shiro’s answer. Like it’s a solid inevitability. “She’s going to realize soon enough that you’re still the same Keith from before. It might take her some time but she’ll come around.”

 

Gratefully, Keith kisses a pectoral and nuzzles closer. Maybe at a later date and time he’ll share his nightmares with Shiro. When he feels more centered. He wills his body to relax, fingers going back to lying flat against Shiro’s chest.

 

Shiro’s breathing is deep and steady. Keith counts the spaces between them, unwittingly matching his pace. His eyes begin to drift shut, mind and born worn out.

 

“You know I don’t think that way right?” Shiro’s question is a soft whisper over head. Keith hums tiredly up at him, turning his face up half an inch to show he’s listening. “All the stuff that guy said to you during the trials? If it was me I wouldn’t stop you from knowing if that’s what you really wanted. I’d be right next to you trying to get to the truth.”

 

He rubs his smile into Shiro’s chest hard enough so that the other man can feel it. Keith thinks back to how desperately he’d wanted to hear Shiro’s reassurances during the trial. How _badly_ he’d wished that Shiro had been by his side, if doing nothing else but cheering him on. Telling him it was okay to fight.

 

“I gotta say I’m proud of you though. Not just for fighting all those Blades. But also accepting who you are.” Shiro shifts underneath him, causing Keith’s eyes to fly open in surprise. He finds himself blinking into earnest gray eyes. A warm palm pushes his hair off his face. Cups his warm cheeks. Keeps his gaze on Shiro when he whispers, “The way you always pick the right thing to do is the reason why I know this won’t change a thing. Not in the team and not between us.”

 

Flustered, Keith isn’t sure what to say. All he can do is squeeze his eyes shut and accept the soft kiss Shiro gives him. It’s painfully tender and lovely, making him shyly drop a peck of his own on Shiro’s lips before burrowing against his chest with a soft, “Thank you, Takashi.”

 

“I love you.” Shiro whispers in returns, holding Keith tight against him. “Nothing going to change that.”

 

Returning Shiro’s hug as tightly as he can, Keith whispers the words back before tilting his face up for a deeper kiss. They both linger, turning one kiss into many. As many as they can before their lungs burn with the need for oxygen. Only then do they pull apart, panting softly before Shiro murmurs, “Get some rest. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

 

Keith nods in agreement, freeing a hand so that he can grab the blanket and pull it over them. After he’s tucked it under Shiro’s arm, Keith settles in for the night. Shiro snuggles closer with a yawn. Keith exhales, “I love you too.” before closing his eyes. He goes to sleep feeling Shiro’s smile against his forehead. And for the first time since their meeting with Ulaz, Keith sleeps a deep, dreamless sleep.


End file.
